A group of four people lured a minor girl into a local forest promising to give her Rs 50 and reportedly gang-raped her at Ugratara-6 in the district.

“They lured me into the forest by showing the Rs 50 note and took turns raping me,” the girl said. A woman who had gone to the forest to collect fodder witnessed the incident and informed locals and police.

Though the alleged perpetrators managed to flee before police arrived there, a team of security personnel led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Ram Sharan Thapa of the Area Police Office in Banepa managed to arrest three people with the help of information provided by the victim.

“We have started our investigation and search for the other man who got away is under way,” Thapa said. According to police, the arrestees have been identified as Deepak Karki, Roshan Ranjit and Dipesh Tamang living in a rented room at Ugratara-1. The identity of the absconding man, however, is yet to be known.

Among the arrestees, Deepak Karki has already pleaded guilty to the crime while giving his statement to police. Police records show that Karki is a repeat offender. He had already served time for some public offence. Karki was freed from prison just one month ago.

Meanwhile, in another incident, police arrested two people from from Shankhupati Chaur on the charge of raping a 17-year-old intellectually disabled from and filed cases against them.

They are accused of raping the girl on March 15 in a forest in Eklekhet in the district.

The arrestees have been identified as Nawaraj Tamang, 30, and Devlal Tamang, 50, of Shankhupati Chaur-8. The two have confessed to their crimes.

“We have filed rape charges against the two men who raped the disabled girl,” Inspector Achyut Chapagain of Area Police Office in Banepa said.